The Samsung Galaxy S24 series introduced new artificial intelligence (AI) features to Android, including live call translation, a wallpaper generator, audio file transcription and even text message translation in any messaging app including WhatsApp. If you have an older Galaxy in your pocket and have been feeling left out then you could be in luck, as Samsung is about to start pushing out a free update that brings all the shiny new AI features to other Samsung devices.
The update, called One UI 6.1, introduces tools such as Circle to search, which lets you freeze whatever is on your screen to then circle something for a quick Google search. It works very well, and can be used for text, photos, and anything you might Google without having to type in a long query.
It also adds AI editing tools to the Samsung Photos app so you can erase unwanted people or objects out of photos, similar to what you can do on the latest Google Pixel 8. If you’re not sure how to make a photo better, the Edit Suggestion tool can do just what it says on the tin.
These features will be coming to the Galaxy S23 series, as well as the S23 FE, Z Fold5, and Z Flip5 with Samsung promising a release by the end of March. Select features are also coming to all the Galaxy Tab S9 tablets.
“Tools include live translation in an Interpreter mode that lets you have a two-way conversation in two languages while the translation appears on your screen,” said Henry Burrell, Express.co.uk deputy technology editor, in his five-star review of the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
“There’s even a live translation feature built into the Phone app – you can call someone and it will translate what you are saying to them with an AI voice, and vice versa. It’s a little clunky and confusing for the person you have called, but in our testing it does work.”
A little like how Google is pushing its Feature Drops every few months out every few months to older Pixel phones (as well as new), Samsung here is looking after existing customers by not keeping AI software features exclusive to the S24 series.
But what it does show is the company decided to market the S24 on AI to differentiate it from the S23, particularly as this update shows that older phone hardware is powerful enough to run the AI features. Though we love the S24 Ultra, it is very similar indeed to the S23 Ultra, which was itself a dead ringer for the S22 Ultra.
At least this update shows Samsung is committed to improving your phone if it can with software updates.
